Whether to make sloped sites level, prevent flooding or reduce impact on natural surroundings, houses on stilts are being built around the world. Here are eight of the best contemporary examples. More about Eight contemporary houses raised on stilts
Japanese studio ICADA has completed a house in Saitama, Japan, that combines inventive storage solutions with a structure of rough-sliced cedar logs. More about Live Sawn House features moving walls and a room on stilts
Local studios Jaime Prous Architects and Pineda & Monedero have completed Casa 144º, a corrugated metal-clad home near Barcelona that is raised above a steeply sloping site on skinny steel stilts. More about Metal-clad home perched on steel supports above Barcelona coast
Prefabricated wooden elements were used to create the "orderly" square-shaped Casa SI by Chilean studio Iragüen Viñuela Arquitecto, which is perched on a hilly site near the Pacific Ocean. More about Iragüen Viñuela experiments with "expressive potential" of prefab timber in Chile
Chilean studio Daiber & Aceituno Arquitectos has placed a corrugated metal house deep within the forest of Puerto Varas, Chile, suspending it on concrete arches to minimise its footprint on the terrain. More about Daiber & Aceituno Arquitectos raises metal house on concrete arches in Chilean forest
International architecture studio Rafael Viñoly Architects has lofted a solid aluminium mass on concrete pillars to represent the "weight of valor" for a museum dedicated to Medal of Honor recipients in Arlington, Texas, USA. More about Rafael Viñoly Architects lofts monolithic metal volume for military museum in Texas
Swedish studio Johan Sundberg Arkitektur has completed the holiday house Yngsjö, using natural materials and a light colour palette to help it blend with its surroundings in southern Sweden. More about Johan Sundberg Arkitektur wraps stilted house in Sweden with Siberian larch
Architecture studio Entorno y Contexto has led the redevelopment of a stretch of the Papaloapan River on Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, installing lightweight steel structures on stilts and landscaping to facilitate recreation. More about Red-painted steel structures feature in Mexican riverfront revitalisation
Extreme site conditions drove the design of House at 9,000 Feet, a rounded dwelling by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects in the American West supported by stilts and accessed via a bridge. More about MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple creates elliptical house for mountainous site
Warm tones feature across the facade and interior of The Lookout, a stilted house that local studio Parsonson Architects has added to a hillside site in New Zealand. More about Parsonson Architects perches stilted red home on coast of New Zealand
Large windows create the feeling of sitting in a tree canopy at La Cime, a timber-clad holiday cabin that Canadian studio Naturehumaine has created in woodland in Lanaudière, Québec. More about Naturehumaine perches stilted "micro chalet" within Canadian woodland
Winding pathways and thatched roofs made of recycled plastic are among the features at the Kona Village resort in Hawaii, which Walker Warner Architects designed to replace a 1960s hotel destroyed by a tsunami. More about Walker Warner Architects includes recycled-plastic thatch in Hawaii hut resort
Canadian studio Quinzhee Architecture has lifted a cedar-clad residence on stilts for a ski house in Québec. More about Quinzhee Architecture clads stilted "contemporary chalet" in cedar
Wooden shingles cloak this stilted sauna, which architecture studio Oslo Works has elevated over the rocky shore of Nesodden peninsula, Norway, for the local community. More about Oslo Works perches The Hotspot sauna on coast of Norway
Architecture studios i29 and Namo Architecture referenced birdhouses and nests when creating this holiday home in Arnhem, which is intended to blend in with its woodland setting. More about Buitenverblijf Nest is a "folly high up in the trees" in the Netherlands
Wall-to-wall glass and a material palette informed by local vernacular define Zen House, a 33-square-metre micro home on stilts in Austria, completed by Czech studio Jan Tyrpekl. More about Jan Tyrpekl raises glass micro home on stilts in rural Austria
This pine-clad home on a forested hillside was designed by US studio Robert Young Architects to provide immersive views of nature and to offer "a sense of optimism" for a family experiencing loss. More about Robert Young Architects designs Virginia Treehouse around a family's experience of loss
Architecture studio Snøhetta and engineer Tor Helge Dokka have created House Dokka, a mass-timber home that perches on a hillside in Kongsberg, Norway. More about Snøhetta perches "floating treehouse" on Norwegian hillside
Architecture studio ElasticoFarm has created a house on stilts around a suspended void nestled in the trees of a private park in Cambiano, a town to the southeast of Turin in northern Italy. More about ElasticoFarm raises house on stilts around central void in Italian park
Local studio ERRE Arquitectos has wrapped a seaside house in pine and lifted it on silts in order to optimise views of the coastline in Chile. More about Docks inform design of ERRE Arquitectos' stilted Chilean beach house